The best part of working in Google Documents is the different ways you can collaborate on projects, and that’s what we’re working on next. To start, you need to have a partner, and try to make it someone that you have multiple (2-3 or more) classes with (for example, this class plus maybe PE and biology or chemistry and pre-calculus). This might not be the person you normally sit next to, so be prepared to move if necessary.
Once you have your partner and have settled on what computers you are working from, you will begin creating a newspaper based on the classes you have together. You will select a newspaper template from the options below…

As you can see, all of these templates are completely different. You need to choose the one that works for you. Remember that the templates can be changed – you can expand them to fit new material or take out boxes and spaces and combine to create more space for something else.

Once you have selected a template, you should download and save it to BOTH of your Drive folders. One of you can download it first and share it with the other so that you are both working in the same space. Now you will need to decide what you are writing about. Maybe one person will write about your World History class while the other one works on a piece about American Literature. You will create a survey for the rest of the class to take asking about their opinions on things like which teacher is more interesting in class: Dr. Deterding or Mrs. Krause? (Note: questions must be appropriate. You cannot ask questions that could be perceived as rude). You can then use those survey results in your newsletter, maybe taking the most interesting question or two and using the results to enhance your presentation. You can also expand your newsletter to include something fun like a word search or a crossword puzzle or a picture that your readers could print out and color. The more creative you are, the better!

Here is an example from last semester for you to view.

Expectations:
  • You will create a survey with useful questions that apply to the classes you are writing about, then use the responses to enhance your newspaper. The survey should be done FIRST, so your classmates have time to take the survey. The survey should have at least 5 questions, and cannot all be multiple choice or choose from a list.
  • You will have at least 3 articles about classes that you are both in. One of the articles could be about this class if needed.
  • You will have creative elements – pictures that describe your class, a word search that you created using words that are used in the class, or graphs that came from your poll results. You could even include a coloring section if you choose.
  • There are no big empty white spaces on your newspaper. Fill all the spaces!
When you are done, ask me to come check it out and make sure that you’ve got everything complete. Good luck! external image icon_smile.gif